Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Here is an example of the application of the
Marxist-oriented ideology which holds that individual human behavior is
exclusively (or primarily) determined by “socializing” (or other material
forces). Social engineering, according to this utopian belief system, which in
much of the professional world is accepted as irrefutable dogma, would when
enforced by government be able to employ an alternative “social construction”
in order to eliminate crime.

The specific topic is filicide (the killing of a child by
its own parent). The feminist sociologist uses standard Marxist feminist
theories to argue the false position that women who commit filicide do not do
with any conscious malicious volition and instead of being persons with agency,
with personal responsibility for their own decisions and actions.

The false claims by Wilenski are used by others to paint a
false picture of the crime, promoting the false view that men and women behave
in accordance with the Marxist theory of patriarchal oppression, such as
exhibited in the feminist blogger Barry Deutch’s claims:

The typical father-killer is a longtime abuser, and is
motivated by a desire to control his family, or by jealousy because he believes
(rightly or wrongly) that his wife is cheating on him or leaving him. (He is,
however, sane, in the legal sense that he has an understanding of
right and wrong.) The typical mother-killer is committing neonaticide
in a context of postpartum depression, denial, and social isolation; or, if
she’s killing an older child, she’s doing so out of a deranged belief that the
child is better off dead. [Nov. 21, 2008]

***

UPDATE: These are now:dead links

Here is the debate on the Wilczynski’s article between a
father’s rights writer, Robert Franklin, and feminist writer, Barry Deutsch, which
prompted creation of the post you are now viewing:

You will find that the evidence presented below (which was
not part of Wilczynski’s research) does not support the feminist argument.

•◊•◊•

EXCERPT FROM 1995 article by Ania Wilczynski:

“Marked sex differences were also apparent in filicide
motivation. While men tend to predominate in the retaliating, jealousy and
discipline categories of filicide, women tend to be found in the unwanted
child, altruistic and psychotic categories…. The literature reports comparable
results on both these findings. [Note: The phrasing “tend to” is used by
Wilczynski to hide the fact that the differences which she claims show a clear
difference between sexes may not indeed be very marked. The wording facilitates
a sound-bite style statement to be made and disseminated by journalists which
implies there exists a strong (or even a black-and-white) contrast between male
and female motivations.]

The gender differences in filicide motivation indicate that
an understanding of the social construction of masculinity and femininity may
be crucial to an adequate understanding of filicide. Men are socialized to be
unemotional, aggressive, dominant and sexually possessive. Therefore their
filicides tend to most commonly involve retaliation, jealousy and discipline.
Conversely, social norms encourage women to be passive, nurturant and
self-sacrificing. Hence women’s filicides tend to be found in the altruistic,
psychotic and neonaticide categories. Thus, while filicide is often seen as an
aberrant and inexplicable act committed by someone who is either evil or
mentally deranged, it is important to place the crime in its social context and
to see that it represents in extreme form the playing out of traditional gender
roles.” [The “psychotic” designation allows perpetrators who are retaliating
and jealous to be eliminated from the statistical group, yet the designation
“psychotic” which is usually applied during the court process following the
crime is in many instances is highly arbitrary [and frequently countered by
disagreeing forensic evaluators] and unsupported by genuinely scientific
evidence.]

“The female
‘retaliators’ tended to be motivated by resentment at their lack of power.”
[Wilczynski]

A great irony exists in the method employed in this study
whereby “emphasis was placed on the subjects’ explanations for their behavior.”
When the author takes the perpetrators claims at face value she is ignoring the
possibility that the perpetrator is presenting a rationalization of the murder
that would be consistent with a personality disorder. The rationalizing and the
compulsive blaming of others of the person who acts anti-socially, who has a
personality disorder, is not considered by the author. Marxist-feminist
theories that women are victims of male “power” is given the spotlight.

A circularity of thought which reveals itself. We are
expected to accept the Marxist feminist “social conditioning” hypothesis as an
explanation as a primary causative factor. It follows that since the perpetrators
have been exposed to (“conditioned by”) leftist-feminist theories, which are
ubiquitously found in our culture, which
promote the idea that women should always see themselves as victims and that
any personal dissatisfaction can be explained by “gendered” oppression, then
the verbal explanations given by female perpetrators citing their “lack of
power” as a motivation might themselves be described as a “social conditioning.”
“Gender” ideology provides a standardized script or formula which the female
perpetrator, when being interviewed by the feminist, merely regurgitates in a
manner typical of one who suffers from a narcissistic or borderline
personality.

Since men have not been conditioned to adopt the “gender”
victimization, then script their verbal statements – whether rationalizing or
not – will not follow the ideological formula (the “get out of jail free” card)
promoted for exclusive use by women. Yet it is obvious that both men and women
in all child custody disputes are equally experiencing personal frustration
over a “lack of power” in one form or another. These cases are not battles in a
war between the Woman Army versus the Man Army. These parents are not mere
pawns in, what in Marxist terms would be the “dialectical struggle” in the “historically
inevitable” march toward utopia. Yet these people are real, and highly complex,
individual adults with individual agency.

An examination of 24 news reports (cataloged and summarized
below) on filicide cases involving female “retaliators” (in Marxist feminist
labeling) however paints a much different picture of motivation of these women
who murdered their own children while in a dispute with their father than the
dogma-derived one constructed by Wilczynski.

The 24 cases dating from 1905 to 2010 displayed below
exhibit verbal explanations that are of a sort that Wilczynski does not seem to
have been able to locate in cases she has researched. These verbal explanations
in these 24 cases are candid revelations of a revenge motive. The statements
made by these filicidal mothers are not, for the most part, expressions of
regret but rather are self-justifications that seem to make sense to the
rationalizing perpetrator as explanations of justifiable actions. Within the framework
of the world view of an anti-social, abnormal, personality the expressions of a
vengeful motive are perfectly, if perversely, consistent and logical. The
actions and the attendant rationalizations do not display a “gendered”
difference. Men who commit these acts will often do so for exactly the same
reasons. The perverse logic of the filicidal parent is echoed in the perverse
logic of the ideologue who tries to subsume all individual human experience
under an ideology of class struggle (the sexes being, in this viewpoint, two “classes”
in conflict).

We can apply this observation of the distortion of reality
on the part of Marxist feminist interpreters of filicides to the entire area of
the feminist discourse on “domestic violence.” Violent men are always to be
classified as agents of the patriarchal conspiracy while violent women are to
be always classified as “retaliators” against that patriarchal conspiracy.

The bizarre result of this ideology-fixation personality disorder that we see displayed by feminist
sociologist Wilczynski and feminist blogger Deutsch – and tens of thousands of
other professional feminists is that violence by women against girls, boys (and
even against other adult women) must be rationalized away by convoluted
arguments – must be “disappeared” – in the service of the grand march to the Marxist
utopia.

On
Jul. 18, 1905, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, N. Y., Anna Gades
stabbed her 19-month-old son, Hans, to death in New York. She told police that:
“There was no reason to kill Hans, but when I could not get a chance to kill my
husband, because he watched me so closely, I had to kill his son for revenge. I
hated to kill the boy, but I wanted to make his father wretched.” [“Kills Child
For Revenge - “Woman Stabs a Nineteen Months Old Baby to Inflict Pain Upon
Husband - Crazed By Jealousy - Knife Driven Through Infant’s Body So Forcibly
That Mother Is Wounded,” The Call (San Francisco, Ca.), Jul. 20, 1905, p. 2]

“Believing the loss of his son would be the most cruel blow
she could inflict on her husband, Mrs. Anna Gades, 34 years old, of
Williamsburg, in a fit of jealousy and anger stabbed and killed her 13-month-old
child, Hans.” [“Mother Murders Babe to Spite Her Husband – Believing Spouse Was
Paying Too Much Attention to Her Sister, Woman Sought Revenge,” Janesville
Gazette (Wi), Jul. 20, 1905, p. 8]

Pleaded guilty to manslaughter; sentenced to one year of
hard labor; Motive: mother’s jealousy of father’s love for child explicitly
stated; previous threat; drank chloroform, father had emptied gun clip before
she could shoot herself.

Detective
Bligh testifies about his interview of the defendant: “Do you realize that you
have done wrong in shooting the child?” he is alleged to have asked. “I don’t
think so,” she replied. “Mrs. Dunn, did you ever hear of the Ten Commandments?”
“No, what are they?” “One of them: ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill.’” “Well, if God had
any children, He would have thought differently?” The prosecution will combat
the plea of emotional insanity, put forth by the defense, with one alleging
jealousy of the child as a murder motive. Bligh aided in getting this idea
before the jury when he told of Mrs. Dunn telling him that ‘she hoped the child
would die because of unhappy relations between her and her husband.” … Bligh
said that a quarrel had occured on the morning of the tragedy between Dunn and
the child’s mother. She told Bligh, according to the testimony, that Dunn found
fault with her cooking, following which she threw porridge over the magazine
writer and ran upstairs.”(Typos:
defense attorney’s name: “Knoxson,” “Dixon,” “Nixon”) [“Dunn’s Action Saves
Slayer from Suicide – Detective Testifies at the Trial That Removal of Cartidge
Clip From Pistol Prevented Mrs. Courvoisier’s Death – Defense for Killing
Three-Year-Old Boy to Be Emotional Insanity; Tried to End Her Life With
Poison,” Oakland Tribune, Jul. 25,
1919, p. 1]

Mrs. Marie Marino, 25 years old, hurled her five-year-old
daughter, Evangelina, in the path of an automobile at Eastern Parkway and
Rockaway Avenue, Brooklyn, yesterday, and attempted to throw herself under the
wheels of the car. Her husband, James, a barber, dragged her to safety, but the
child’s skull was fractured so that she died. The impulse to kill herself and
her daughter, the woman told Detectives Donelson and Reif and Assistant
District Attorney John Hurley, attacked her when her husband refused to return
to her. She was locked up in the Brownsville Station charged with homicide.

The couple, who had separated several times recently and
took their grievance to the Domestic Relations Court. They were in court
yesterday and after they left Marino told his wife he would sue her for
divorce. “There’s your child,” cried the woman throwing the girl in front
of the automobile when she heard Marino’s declaration. Marino was held as a
material witness pending the police investigation of the case. [“Hurls Child in
Auto’s Path – Mother Then Attempts Suicide – Says Marital Troubles Caused Act.”
The New York Times (N.Y.), Jun. 5, 1920, p. 32]

“A young mother in the Bronx, estranged from her husband,
lifted her 3-year-old son to the telephone yesterday and had him speak to his
father. ‘Hello daddy,’ the father heard the child say. ‘Don’t say “Hello,
daddy,”‘ came the mother’s voice. ‘Say “Good-bye, daddy.’” The child said it
and a moment later the husband heard his wife’s voice, distinct and vindictive:
‘It seems that the only way I can get ahead of you is to kill the child.’ The
receiver was hung up with a bang. The husband hurried out desperately to find
the wife and child.” [“Mother Kills Son and Died by Own Gun – First Has Son Say
‘Good-Bye Daddy’ Over Phone To Her Estranged Husband. – Boy Slain While at Play
– Bodies Found In Bushes – Wife Got Custody of Lad on Monday After Two Years of
Litigation,” The New York Times (N. Y.), Aug 4, 1926, p. 21]

“I just couldn’t bear to have them taken from me. I’d rather have them
dead than away from me,”… “I did
not want to give my children to their father or anyone else.” [“Murder Charged
To Mother In Shooting Of Two Children,” syndicated (UP), The Abilene
Reporter-News (Tx.), May 7, 1943, p. 14]

“I was upset.” Collins quoted her as saying. “My husband had
been picking on me all morning. The baby was fussy and wouldn’t sleep. Dick had
gone to work. Suddenly everything went black. I remember it all. I stuffed the
pajama sleeve in his mouth until he stopped breathing. It was to repay my
husband. I didn’t think of it long, though. I just came into my head.” [“Wife
Admits Killing Baby To Get Even With Spouse,” Oakland Tribune, Oct. 13,
1954, p. 8]

EXCERPT: “I have just drowned my three children,” said a
29-year-old mother, who stood in line to await her turn at the police complaint
desk. “Lady, you didn’t make this up did you?” asked Sgt. Caesar Bernal. “I
only wish I had,” replied Mrs. Rosa Pena. Bernal quickly dispatched three squad
cars and three ambulances to her small frame home, in a poorer section of San
Antonio. Patrolmen found three small boys dead – David, 6, Alvin, 4, and
Richard, 2. A medical examiner said the youngsters apparently had been drowned,
as the mother told Bernal. One body lay in a hallway, the other two in the kitchen.
Bernal said Mrs. Pena became hysterical under questioning and when asked why
she killed the children could only sob:

“I didn’t want my husband to have them.”

Mrs. Pena, booked at city jail for murder, was placed in a
hospital for treatment for shock. A police guard was ordered. She told police
that she and her husband had been having domestic difficulties. She quoted Pena
as saying if she left him, he would take the children away from her.

FULL TEXT: Fayetteville, Ark. – a woman who police said
wanted to “solve all the heartaches and hurts” killed her three children, her
former husband and his stepsister Saturday. Shirley Marie Curry, 37, of Lowell,
wounded a former brother-in-law also, police said, and was arrested in
Fayetteville less than two hours after the killings. She was held without bond
and authorities said they would charge her Monday with five counts of murder
and possibly assault with intent to kill. Sheriff’s Deputy J. D. Snow said Mrs.
Curry had lost a custody fight over one of her children Friday, and that
“festered in her mind.” “Apparently she thought this would solve all her
problems,” Snow said. He quoted her as telling him. “This, maybe, solves all
the heartaches and hurts.” Police believe Mrs. Curry first shot her sons,
Richard A., 14, and Jesse L., 11, at her home in Lowell. Her former husband,
Jimmy Lee Curry, 42, their daughter, Sabrina, 17, and Johann Brophy, 27,
Curry’s stepsister, were killed in Springdale. [“Shots Kill 5; ‘All Heartaches,
Hurts Solved’,” syndicated (UPI), Los Angeles Times (Ca.), Jul. 21, 1974, part
1, p. 4]

In October 1987
Bess Baldwin, of Niangua, Missouri, population 445, shot and killed her
five-year-old son Clayton while he slept. She told police it was and accident,
yet later she confessed that killed the child “because she was upset at her
husband.” She ended up providing three different accounts of the event. She was
found guilty of second-degree murder on May 13, 1988. [UhoM]

Dr. Debora Green,
of Kansas City, Missouri, poisoned her doctor husband
with a lethal slow poison, leaving him with permanent heart damage. She
alienated her son, Tim from his father and blamed him for both poisoning his
father and for the fire which she herself set which killed her son and one of her
younger daughter, Kelly (6). When the elder daughter Kate (11), jumped down
into her mothers arms, Debora deliberately let her fall to the ground, but she
survived. This bizarre case was the subject of
Ann Rule’s riveting 1997 book, Bitter
Harvest. [UhoM]

Susan Eubanks murdered her four sons, aged 14, 7, 6 and 4,
on October 26, 1997. She claimed she was protecting them by shooting them to
death. The boys were the sons of two different fathers.

Mrs.
Eubanks had spent the day drinking and arguing with her boyfriend. Just hours
after deputies helped the boyfriend move out of Eubanks’ San Marcos home,
Eubanks went on the shooting spree. She prepared by writing five suicide notes
and called her estranged husband, Eric Eubanks, with a chilling message: ‘Say
goodbye.’”

A note to her ex-husband read: “I’ve lost everybody I’ve
loved. Now it’s time for you to do the same.”

“She told me sometimes, ‘You’ll
never see the baby again,’” he said. “It was like, if she couldn’t be with me,
then I couldn’t be with the baby.” [Kendall Anderson, “Mother indicted in slaying Woman is
accused of killing 2-year-old,” The Dallas
Morning News (Tx), Mar. 19, 1998, p. 31-A]

Terry Cortez said
he never wanted to take full custody of his 2-year-old daughter away from the
child’s mother. Now, he wonders whether his desire to be a good father cost him
his daughter’s life. Less than two weeks after a
Dallas County judge gave Mr. Cortez temporary custody of the child, the girl’s
24-year-old mother took 2-year-old Jessica for what was supposed to be a
two-hour visit and never returned.

“The
only issue I had was I wasn’t getting to see my daughter after we were
separated - all I wanted was to see my daughter,” said Mr. Cortez, 20, who
broke up with Ms. Hamilton early last year.

“I
wonder what would have happened if I let it be, if I said, `OK! You don’t want
me to see my daughter. OK. I’ll wait until she is old enough and comes looking
for me.” [Michael Saul, “Custody issues haunt dad after
toddler’s death Mom in hospital faces questioning after girl’s body found in
Gainesville,” The Dallas Morning News (Tx), April 6, 1997, p. 29-A]

Knapp said that Huster told an inmate: "I smothered my
daughter -- I did it so that Mike (ex-husband) could not have her.” … Knapp
said Huster told psychiatrists after her arrest that she shot her daughter in
the head, cut up the body and threw parts of it into the Pacific Ocean from a
boat chartered for whale watching. Huster told one of the psychologists she
dismembered her daughter's body because she "couldn't afford a
funeral," Knapp said. "She is driven by rage" and has "no
empathy or remorse. She is cold, not crazy," Knapp said in concluding his
opening argument.

Police believe Karen Lee Huster murdered her young daughter
five years ago during a period when she was fighting with her ex-husband for
custody. Elisabeth Anne was 9-years-old when she was last seen in August 1996.
The girl's body has never been found. There wasn’t enough evidence to arrest
Huster after Elisabeth’s disappearance. But years later, police found the
dismembered body of Huster’s missing roommate in two freezers in her apartment.
[KGW and AP, “Staff Prosecutor: Huster Killed Daughter, Dumped Corpse in
Ocean,” KGW and AP Staff Jan. 8, 2002]

Soccoro “Cora” Caro murdered her three sons and tried to
blame the victim’s father, a physician, for her crimes. She arranged the corpse
of the father’s favorite, Joey, so that the father would find the body of his
child face-up for maximum effect.

Caro 45 offered no significant reaction
except to slump slightly in her chair and dab her eyes with tissues. Hours
before she was sentenced however she turned to her husband -- whom the defense
blamed for the killings -- and let her emotions flow. “How could you do this to
us?” she said as the bailiff led her away during the lunch break. “How could
you?” When she didn’t get an answer she yelled “Look! He’s smirking at me! He’s
smirking at me!” Her outburst continued as deputies cleared the courtroom. …

During
the trial the defense tried to pin the killings on Xavier Caro who found the
boys and his wife that night. But the physical evidence -- the children’s blood
on her clothes her bloody palm print on a door frame gunpowder residue on her
hands -- helped convince the jury she was guilty. …

[W]hen [Judge] Coleman refused to modify the death verdict
Courtroom 46 was hushed as he gave a detailed chronology of what occurred the
night of the murders.He found that Caro
shot Joey first and that he died instantly. Then she walked to Michael and
Christopher’s room where they slept together on the bottom of a bunk bed.She placed the muzzle of her .38-caliber
revolver to Michael’s head and fired Coleman said. The shot woke Christopher
who rose to see his mother pointing her gun at him.She shot the youngest victim in the head but
he didn’t die instantly, Coleman said. Instead he moved about the bed possibly
trying to escape when she shot him again in the same wound.Then in a final vengeful act before shooting
herself in the head she turned over Joey -- whom his father called his best
friend -- so he would be lying face-up
when his father found him Coleman said.” [Aron Miller, “Judge Affirms Verdict For Cora
Caro: Death - Ventura County Woman Will Pay Ultimate Price For Killing 3 Sons,”
Ventura County Star (Cal.), Apr. 6, 2002, p. 1]

Despite its five bedrooms and view
of the Pacific, this sprawling hilltop home feels like a prison to Dr. Xavier
Caro. It is here that his then-wife, Cora, lost in their loveless marriage,
ended three young lives and shattered his. Now he’s trapped in the Santa Rosa
Valley north of Thousand Oaks by pride and a court order.After Cora was convicted of murdering three
of their four sons and sentenced to death, the trial judge ruled that her share of the couple’s affluence
should be used to pay for the two public defenders who represented her. Ventura
County billed her $307,000.

But Dr. Caro, a prominent
Northridge rheumatologist, has fought the county, arguing that the woman he
divorced forfeited her wealth when she destroyed their family.And so he stays in his house - their house -
to prevent the county from enforcing its lien against the property.“There are no words,” Caro said recently over
coffee in his kitchen. “There are no experiences that compare. Only a parent
who has lost a child
can empathize. To have that act triple is even more painful. [Brad A. Greenberg, “House Of Pain - Legal
Battle Traps Man In Tragedy; Ventura County Wants Doctor To Pay Ex-Wife’s
$410,000 Defense Costs,”Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - April 9,
2006, p. N-1]

FULL TEXT: The
father of an Acworth-area girl who was killed Tuesday by her mother in an
apparent murder-suicide is baffled by their deaths. Though a suicide note
indicated his ex-wife feared losing their daughter in a bitter custody battle,
Jeff Adams said there was no custody battle.

Earlier this
week, Diane Harmon sealed off the two-car garage inside her Parkwood
subdivision home and turned on her car’s engine. She and her 7-year-old
daughter, Brittany Adams, sat inside her car. Harmon’s current husband, Edwin
Harmon, found the two dead Tuesday afternoon, poisoned by high levels of carbon
monoxide.

Police said in
the suicide note Harmon said she felt no one would be able to care for Brittany
the way she deserved. But Adams said he never sued for custody of his daughter
and never intended to threaten Harmon’s maternal care. What he wanted, he said,
was to be able to see his daughter on a regular basis.

“Something seemed
like it snapped recently,” Adams said.

Diane Harmon’s
behavior had become erratic, he said. Two months ago she abruptly announced
that Brittany could no longer visit Adams’ parents, he said, though she had
promised that the child always would have contact with them.

“She shut them
out. It really hurt my dad,” Adams said.

Around that same
time she also cut off Brittany’s phone calls to Adams.

“(Brittany) was
just learning how to use the phone,” he said. “She liked to use the phone and
she had all my numbers.”

In 1995 the
couple filed for divorce and Diane Harmon was awarded sole custody of Brittany,
according to court records. A visitation settlement was reached and Adams was
allowed to see his daughter on a regular basis for unsupervised visits.

But in 1997 Diane
Harmon sued him for failure to pay child support and won the case. Adams’
visitation rights were temporarily revoked pending a new visitation agreement.

Adams and his
Marietta attorney, G.C. Payne III, maintain that Adams, a sales manager at a
Buckhead car dealership, never missed a payment and was in fact ahead on
payments.

As part of her
‘97 child support suit, Diane Harmon also accused Adams of being an alcoholic
and drinking in front of Brittany, charges Adams denies. Her court filings
demanded that Adams submit to regular random drug and alcohol tests and attend
monthly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

During
negotiations for visitation rights, Adams submitted to a urinalysis and passed.

“They test me all
the time where I work anyway,” he said. In April, a petition Adams filed for
visitation rights was denied in a Cobb County court.

Payne said he and
Harmon’s attorney, Garvis L. Sams Jr., were only days away from new
negotiations over visitation rights. Sams declined to be interviewed. The
negotiations were intended to be made outside of a courtroom and there was no
talk of changing custody rights, Payne said. Adams only wanted regular visits
with his daughter again.

“. . ., I could
hardly see her, much less get custody,” Adams said. “I’d have to be crazy. That
would be like throwing money down the drain trying to sue for custody.”

During the past
year, Adams was allowed to visit Brittany a handful of times and even then it
had to be a supervised visit, he said. Last month he saw her for the last time
eating lunch at Diane Harmon’s parents’ house.

“She seemed to be
fine,” he said. “I was worried that I could not see my daughter. I didn’t know
what was going on with her.”

Tuesday night, Diane Harmon’s father called to
give Adams the news.

“I didn’t think
it was real. Then I realized it was,” he said, speaking quietly.

“I can’t figure
it out. I don’t think there is any possible way to figure out what happened.” [Julie Bryant, “Murder-suicide note about false situation - What custody
battle? Cobb dad says he just wanted to visit daughter,” Atlanta
Journal-Constitution (Ga.), Sep. 10, 1999, p. C-5]

The woman [whose name was withheld from the public] gave the
boys their Christmas presents before she put flammables such as a gas bottle,
mower fuel, methylated spirits and lamp oil in the boys’ bedrooms. She packed a
suitcase with suicide notes and left it outside, under the clothes line, with
instructions for family members. Police allege it was left there to avoid
getting burned when she set fire to the house. They claimed the woman had been
furious after learning her former husband planned applying for full custody of
his five-year-old son. It’s alleged she wrote a seven-page suicide note, three
days before the poisonings, setting out plans to kill her sons and herself,
taking the boys to “a better place’.” After administering the Panadol mixture
to the children and taking her own concoction of pills, the woman called her de
facto partner, the baby’s father, at around midnight to tell him what she had
done. The woman then called her father who told her to induce vomiting in the
boys and call an ambulance.

It’s alleged both boys registered large amounts of Panadol
in their systems when treated at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital. The woman
was arrested in December last year after the murder-suicide attempt. Since her
arrest she has been receiving treatment at a Hunter Valley psychiatric unit.
Throughout the five-minute court appearance she showed no emotion, as she
addressed Judge Ralph Coolahan directly to enter her guilty plea. It’s believed
she was accompanied in court by her parents.” [Natalie Williams, “Sons given
cocktail of chocolate and Panadol,” Daily Telegraph
(Sydney, Australia) – Sep. 24, 2002, p. 9]

A woman who gassed her children to death in the family car as an act of
revenge towards her ex-husband has been jailed for life. The
43-year-old woman, who cannot be identified, was found guilty after trial in
the Supreme Court in Brisbane last week of murdering her six-year-old son and
10-year-old daughter at their home at Sandstone Point, near Bribie Island. The
charge of murder carries an automatic life sentence in Queensland, which was
handed down to the woman on Wednesday. She was also found guilty of the
attempted murder of her 16-year-old son, for which she received a concurrent
sentence of 15 years. During the trial the court was told the mother decided to
kill herself and the children after being issued with a Family Court order
stating they would spend Christmas Day with their dad. The mother gave the
children crushed sleeping tablets before putting them in the back seat of the
car, attaching a garden hose to the exhaust, and switching on the ignition. The
bodies of the children, who had died from carbon monoxide poisoning, were found
on November 22, 2002.[Christine
Flatley, “Life sentence for mother who gassed two kids in her car,” Perth Now (West Australia, Australia), Feb. 24, 2010]

Murder = March 22, 2002; Insanity defense; sentenced to life
in prison

“I hope this teaches you a good lesson for the rest of your
life. ... It is your fault!”

In a fit of anger and hostility toward her then-estranged
husband for leaving her and then winning visitation rights to their daughter,
Polanco picked up Dana from the sitter, went home and tried to suffocate her
with a pillow. When that didn’t work quickly, she tried to electrocute the
child by placing her in a bathtub with a hair dryer. When the hair dryer blew a
fuse, she drowned her, then tried to kill herself.

To get back at Octavio Polanco, she had to take the “one
item in his life that could cause him the pain he’ll never be able to endure,”
prosecutor Howard Scheinberg said. Scheinberg argued Polanco planned the crime,
writing goodbye letters and e-mails to family and friends that included
statements to Octavio Polanco such as, “I hope this teaches you a good lesson
for the rest of your life. ... It is your fault!”[Lisa J. Huriash, “Mom Sentenced To Life In
Death Of Toddler, 2 - Judge Offers No Explanation For First-Degree Murder
Finding,” Sun-Sentinel (Fl), Sep. 26, 2003, 3-B]

Miramar mother
Eulie Polanco, 32, drowned her 2-year-old daughter in the bathtub after telling
a co-worker she would let her estranged husband have visitation rights “over my
dead body.” She will spend the rest of her life in prison after a judge found
her guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse Thursday. [“Christy
McKerney Mothers Who Kill Children Fit Into Varied Profiles; Two Broward Cases
Put Spotlight On Troubled Women And Their Treatment In The Justice System,” Sun Sentinel (ft. Lauderdale, Fl.), Sep. 28, 2003

Self-published book on how to use protection orders against
husbands/fathers: Judicial System Loopholes. While there is an apparent
“suicide” attempt here, it seems perhaps more a “show” than a real attempt.

“A woman who bludgeoned her 14-year-old daughter to death
with a hammer and shovel sat impassively in court Friday as her stepchildren
and ex-husband called her evil and said she deserved to die instead of spending
more than 25 years in prison.” [“Mom Sentenced For Hammering Daughter; ‘May You
Burn In Hell,’ Father Tells Ex-Wife Who Killed 14-Year-Old Girl,” CBS News,
Dec. 1, 2006]

“Friends said Lynn Giovanni had written a book, “Judicial
System Loopholes,” last year that slammed the court’s treatment of domestic
violence. Giovanni used the nom de plume “Faith Hope.” [Perry Chiarmonte &
Leonard Greene, “Slain By Mom,” New York Post, February 8, 2005]

“Cohen’s
[NJ Assemply-D] measure (A-2673) is entitled “Judy and Nikki’s Law,” in memory
of Nikki Giovanni andJudy Cajuste, two young Roselle murder victims.
The measure would toughen sentencing standards bymaking the murder of a
minor age 16 or younger – regardless of motive – a crime punishable by
mandatorylife imprisonment without parole. Currently, mandatory life
sentences are reserved only for murders convicted of killing a child age 14 or
younger in a sexually related assault.The measure is currently awaiting
a vote by the full Assembly.”[“Cohen:
Lynn Giovanni’s Conviction ‘Justice At Last’: Mother of ‘Judy and Nikki’s Law’ namesake Nikki Giovannipleads guilty to murdering her daughter,” Assembly Democrats News
Release, October 3, 2006]

“A woman suspected
of killing her son before killing herself left notes for his father asking if
he really thought she would let him bring up their child. Twenty-seven-year-old
Emma Hart’s body was found in Henley Close, Tipton, West Midlands on 9
December, 2007. Her son, Lewis Dangerfield, five, was later found dead in
Walker Street, where he lived with his mother. Black Country Coroner Robin
Balmain recorded Ms Hart killed herself and that Lewis was unlawfully killed.
Ms Hart’s body was found at her mother’s flat. Black Country Coroner Robin
Balmain heard Lewis’ father, Shaun Dangerfield, had split with Ms Hart and had
a new partner. Mr Dangerfield told the inquest at the Council House in
Smethwick that the last text he had received from her in the days before her death
had said “I know what to do now for the best” and was signed with a kiss. He
said he thought she meant it was an amicable response to a disagreement they
had had over custody arrangements.

The inquest also heard that in notes she had left she told him:
“Did you really think I was going to die and allow you to bring up our son...
and play happy families?” She said Mr Dangerfield would now hurt for the rest
of his life as he had made hers hell. She wrote: “You can enjoy your life now
as you have nothing to stop you, ha ha.” She also wrote: “Just remember, it’s
all your fault.” The inquest heard Ms Hart was found with a cut across her
wrist and drugs, including morphine, in her system. Lewis also had high levels
of a painkiller in his system. It was possible Ms Hart died because of the
blood loss from her wrist although the levels of painkiller in her body were
high enough to be fatal, the inquest was told. Mr Balmain said it was “simply
spite” that motivated her actions and added it was the most distressing case he
had dealt with in 25 years of service.

“I cannot imagine anything so evil as a mother who would be
prepared to kill her son to spite Mr Dangerfield,” he said. Referring to a
severely critical note she had left for Mr Dangerfield, Mr Balmain said there
was nothing to support her words. “It seems to me he had done everything he
possibly could to fulfil his obligations towards his little boy.” After the
inquest, in a statement read out by a police officer, Shaun Dangerfield said he
had lost the largest part of his life. “Take five minutes to sit back and
appreciate what you have and imagine what it would be like to have all that
taken away from you,” he said. Ms Hart’s family also attended the inquest and
told the coroner she had “idolised” Lewis.” [“Mother left notes before deaths,” Jul. 31, 2008, BBC]

May 30, 2009;
drowning; Under the agreement Stott-Smith will get life in prison with
the possibility of parole after 35 years

“…At the same hour in a Washington County courtroom, a judge
ruled that the couple’s daughter be placed in state custody. Stott-Smith, 31,
was arrested at 10:25 a.m. Saturday [May 30] in a Portland parking garage.
She’s accused of pushing or throwing her two children over the Sellwood Bridge,
sending them about 75 feet into the dark and cold Willamette River about 1:20
that morning.

Jo Stott-Smith appears
at her arraignment: Sometime early Saturday, Jason Smith had called
Tualatin police after having had a phone conversation with his estranged wife.
He was concerned about the children and their mother based on that phone call,
Tualatin Police Capt. Brad King said.King declined to say the time Jason Smith
called Tualatin police, other than saying, “Everything was happening about the
same time.” [Maxine Bernstein, Noelle
Crombie and Eric Mortenson, “Nasty
custody fight preceded Sellwood Bridge tragedy; Mom arraigned on
aggravated murder charge,” Oregonian
(Portland), May 26, 2009]

“The Walnut Creek woman who killed her teenage son on Mount
Diablo before shooting herself was angry that the boy was spending more time
with her ex-husband, her brother told The Chronicle after reading her suicide
note. Judith Elizabeth Williams, 51, decided to kill her 16-year-old son, Adam
Williams, in part because her ex-husband had recently moved back to California
from Missouri and was spending every other weekend with their son, her brother
said. On Friday, father and son were to have left on a trip to Southern California.
“She didn’t want Adam to go to his dad,” Williams’ brother, Bill Collins, 55,
of Palo Cedro (Shasta County) said Friday. “That was obvious.” [Henry K. Lee,
“Murder-Suicide Mom Wanted To Keep Boy From Dad,” San Francisco Chronicle
(Ca.), Jul. 25, 2009]

Revenge motive; “She made clear that she threw her baby in
to the freezing river in order to get back at her husband.” [New York Post, May
15, 2010, see full text below]

She wanted to get back at her husband.Devi Silvia, the mother who threw her
19-month-old daughter into the Hudson River and then jumped in behind her in a
murder-suicide attempt told cops that she was bent on revenge against her
spouse, Manhattan prosecutors said yesterday. “She said she was sad and lonely
and angry at her husband and that she did this horrific act on purpose,”
Assistant District Attorney Robert Hettleman said in arguing, successfully,
that the mother be held without bail. “She made clear that she threw her baby
in to the freezing river in order to get back at her husband.” [Laura Italiano,
“Ma’s River ‘Revenge’ - Tossed Baby Out Of Spite For Hubby: DA,” New York Post
(N.Y.), May 15, 2010]

She threw their 19-month-old baby in the Hudson
last month, just to get back at her husband -- but now he wants her back. Devi
Silvia -- a 33-year-old Indian national and mother of two -- asked a Manhattan
judge yesterday to set her free, into her husband’s care, while she awaits a
plea or trial on attempted-murder charges. Her husband sat in the courtroom
audience, teary-eyed throughout the brief hearing. He left without commenting.
Judge Lewis Stone seemed amenable to setting Silvia free, telling the parties
he thought Rikers Island seemed “the least appropriate situation there is,” so
long as she can get outpatient treatment for her newly diagnosed bipolar
disorder. [Laura Italiano, “Baby-toss ma in bid to go free,” New York Post
(N.Y.), Jun. 22, 2010]

‘She
stated that she had a second chance and God had saved her in order to make her
husband pay for what he did.’

A
mother who killed her three children following a custody battle was so paranoid
that she made them wear locator tags when they were with their father. Theresa
Riggi did everything she could to stop Cecilia, five, and twins Augustino and
Gianluca, eight, having contact with her estranged husband Pasquale. She even
gave them a phone so they could call her if the oil engineer said anything they
did not like.The 47-year-old became
obsessed with the idea he wanted to take the children away, a court heard
yesterday.

When
he confirmed he wanted full access, she ended the telephone call with the
words: ‘Say goodbye then.’ She used three separate knives to kill the children,
stabbing each eight times. Church music was playing in the background when
their bodies were discovered. All three were laid out in bloodied clothing on
the bedroom floor before Riggi tried to kill herself by jumping headfirst off a
second-floor balcony at their Edinburgh home. In custody in hospital, Riggi
told a chaplain: ‘I’m not meant to be here.’ She said she had to protect the
children and get away from ‘the evil’. When staff accused her of stealing a
knife Riggi returned it, telling them: ‘I just want to be with my babies.’
Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC told the High Court in Edinburgh: ‘She stated
that she had a second chance and God had saved her in order to make her husband
pay for what he did.’[Michael Seamark, “Paranoid killer mother fitted
her three children with electronic tags,” Daily Mail (London, England), Mar. 2011]

Sometime
between August 2 and 4, 2010, in Edinburgh Scotland, Theresa
Riggi murdered her three children, twin 8-year-old brothers Augustino and Gianluca and five-year old
Cecilia (5, murdered), stabbing each of them eight times, using a separate
knife for each. She had attempting to limit their contact with their father,
Pasquale Riggi. When she learned that he expected “full access” she told him to "Say goodbye then." He
never saw them alive again. [See
online: Michael Seamark, “Paranoid killer mother fitted her three children with
electronic tags,” Daily Mail (London, England), Mar.
2011]